Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity has announced its Spring 2011 Seminar Series featuring the interdisciplinary work of public policy and health advocates, as well as legal and industry insights. Speakers for the series include (i) Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids President Matthew Myers (Advocacy Lessons from the Battle to Reduce Tobacco); (ii) Cornell Food and Brand Lab Director Brian Wansink (Mindless Eating Solutions); (iii) San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar (Creating Access to Healthier Meal Options); (iv) Legacy CEO Cheryl Healton (Lessons Learned from the Tobacco Wars); (v) Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Professor Stephen Teret (Innovative Legal Strategies for Food Policy); and (vi) National Restaurant Association CEO Dawn Sweeney (Today’s Restaurant Industry: Empowering Consumers with Healthy Choices and Nutrition Information). Hosted at the Rudd Center in New Haven, Connecticut, these seminars are open to the public and run from January 19 through April 20.
Category Archives Other Developments
The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) has reportedly voted to amend its policy on the expiration of genetically modified (GM) crop patents, calling on industry to develop “a protocol for biotech crops before coming off patent.” With patents set to expire for more than 24 GM varieties in coming years, the 6-million member farmers’ coalition has evidently asked industry to craft a plan aimed at avoiding shortages or trade disruptions. AFBF delegates at an Atlanta, Georgia, meeting apparently discussed grower and seed group concerns about whether generic seed versions will be available and accepted by other nations. “There just needs to be a way to deal with it,” said AFBF Director of International Policy Rosemarie Watkins. See Reuters, January 13, 2011.
The American Heart Association (AHA) is urging the food industry, health professionals, government, and the public to “intensify efforts to reduce the amount of sodium (salt) Americans consume.” Published as a presidential advisory in an upcoming issue of its journal Circulation, AHA says its science-based recommendations advocate no more than 1,500 mg of sodium daily for the general public. The group claims that current sodium intake is more than two times higher, with 77 percent coming from packaged, processed and restaurant foods. “Even a modest decline in intake—say 400 mg per day—would produce benefits that are substantial and warrant implementation,” according to the advisory, which warns that increased sodium consumption can lead to high blood pressure and heart, kidney and blood vessel problems. With its 2020 impact goal aimed at reducing deaths from cardiovascular disease and stroke by 20 percent, the advisory stressed that “the potential health benefits of sodium…
A Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine researcher has called for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to change its trans fat labeling guidelines to reflect more accurate levels of the fat in foods. Eric Brandt, “Deception of Trans Fats on Food and Drug Administration Food Labels: A Proposed Revision to the Presentation of Trans Fats on Food Labels,” American Journal of Health Promotion, January/February 2011. Current FDA regulations allow trans fat content of less than .5 grams to be listed as 0 grams of fat on food labels. Brandt claims that the policy is misleading and “may result in people thinking they are consuming foods with no trans fats, when in fact they may be consuming food that cumulatively include trans fats in excess of 1 percent of total dietary consumption.” He recommends that trans fat content be labeled in .1-gram increments.
Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation have issued their eighth annual report, Ready or Not? Protecting the Public from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism, which warns that financial woes threaten recent gains made in public health protection. According to a December 14, 2010, TFAH press release, no state scored lower than five on 10 key indicators of public health preparedness, with three states scoring a perfect 10. But the report also cautioned that these developments are now “in real jeopardy due to severe budget cuts by federal, state, and local governments.” In particular, TFAH noted that “10 states do not have an electronic syndromic surveillance system that can report and exchange information to rapidly detect disease outbreaks,” while “21 states were not able to rapidly identify disease-causing E.coli O157:H7 and submit the lab results in 90 percent of cases within four days.” The report also identified “ongoing major…
WikiLeaks, which has made its reputation by placing otherwise unavailable documents on the Internet, has released a December 2010 cable from the U.S. Embassy in Paris in which the ambassador expresses concerns about European action on genetically modified (GM) crops. The cable calls for the preparation of a retaliation list of those countries opposing GM crops to “make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voices.” According to the cable, “the pro-biotech side in France— including within the farm union—have told us that retaliation is the only way to begin to turn this issue in France.” The cable notes that legislation currently pending before the French National Assembly and Senate “could make any biotech planting impossible in practical terms. The law would make farmers and seed companies legally liable for pollen drift and sets the stage for inordinately large cropping…
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has published a January 3, 2011, letter to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg that calls for health warnings on sugar-sweetened beverages. Signed by the American Public Health Association, California Center for Public Health Advocacy, Trust for America’s Health, and other groups, the letter asks FDA to require the use of warning labels on “all beverages with more than 1.1 grams of sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, or other added caloric sweeteners per ounce.” Building on a 2005 CSPI petition, the signatories specifically cite “overwhelming evidence linking consumption of soft drinks to serious diseases.” They recommend that the agency use its “ample legal authority” under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require warning labels such as (i) “The U.S. Government recommends that you drink fewer sugary drinks to prevent weight gain, tooth decay, heart disease and diabetes”; (ii)…
Food & Water Watch (FWW) has published a report critical of seafood eco-labels that certify products as “environmentally friendly” or “sustainably produced.” Titled De-Coding Seafood Eco-Labels: Why We Need Public Standards, the report examines several seafood certification programs created “in response to a range of controversial issues related to the production and consumption of fish.” According to FWW, these privately operated programs have capitalized on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s failure to implement an “organic” seafood label. Moreover, FWW argues, “some of these certification programs have additional interests beyond providing consumer guidance. Whether it’s an interest in establishing a relationship with a fishery in order to work toward improvement, or getting more eco-certified product on the market, these other interests compete with label neutrality.” The FWW report finds that the six labeling programs under review “demonstrate inadequacies with regard to some or all of the following: environmental standards, social responsibility and…
Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity has released a new international database designed to track company pledges to limit food marketing to children. The database currently features 16 pledges: (i) three specific to the soft-drink industry; (ii) one specific to the food industry; and (iii) 12 applicable to the entire food industry. The pledges covered to date include the Council for Better Business Bureaus’ Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI), as well as agreements that are either international in scope or based in Australia, Brazil, Canada, European Union, India, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, or Thailand. The site breaks down each pledge according to “key criteria that define specific restrictions on marketing communications to children, including the definition of ‘children’ (age), the marketing directed at them (audience definition), the communications channels (ex. television, internet, etc.), marketing methods (ex. advertising using licensed characters, advertising using promotional materials, etc.)…
Since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) acted last month to nix alcoholic energy drinks, media focus has apparently shifted to the new campus craze, alcohol-infused whipped creams sold under the monikers CREAM and Whipped Lightning. The growing popularity of “whipahol®” has drawn scrutiny from both public health officials and campus administrators, who in some cases have warned parents about “creative combinations of alcohol” and raised questions about the sufficiency of package labeling. As one Boston Public Health Commission spokesperson told reporters, “If a product looks like something else, it’s easy not to be aware that it might contain a lot of alcohol.” See The Boston Herald, November 28, 2010; Boston NECN, November 29, 2010; University of Kansas Parent Association ENews, December 2010. According to various news sources, the 30-proof canisters are sold in liquor stores where they do not need to be refrigerated and have a shelf life approaching nine months. Moreover,…
